Most sports fans recognize 7-foot-1 Brad Daugherty as a former NBA All-Star or as an All-American at the University of North Carolina.

Or perhaps as a NASCAR analyst for ESPN.

But Daugherty also is an aspiring racer and squeezed his oversized frame into a racecar during a test session Thursday at Martinsville Speedway.

“I’ve been racing a long time. It’s hard for people to understand that,” said Daugherty, who also is co-owner of the JTG Daugherty Sprint Cup team featuring driver Bobby Labonte.

“They recognize me as a basketball guy, because I look like one. But I’m a racer at heart.”

Daugherty is testing a National Auto Sport Association truck and preparing to race in the road-racing series this year. The test Thursday was his second at half-mile Martinsville, NASCAR’s oldest track.

He got some tips and tutoring from fellow ESPN analyst Andy Petree, a former Sprint Cup crew chief who also drove some NASCAR Truck Series races at Martinsville.

“I got a good feel for the truck and I had some left,” said Daugherty, who is competing in a specially constructed truck to fit his towering frame. “I’m tickled to death with the day we had and I think we can improve another tenth or so.”

Daugherty and Petree ended their test session early to shoot part of ESPN’s daily racing show, NASCAR Now.

“This helps a ton with what I do at ESPN, understanding what makes the car works, what we do to work on the car,” said Daugherty, who has raced competitively on many weekly tracks in the Southeast. “If you’ve never felt what it’s like to drive a racecar, it’s hard to describe. By driving it, I feel it and understand it better.”